0:11

All of us have gone through

0:14

something that caused us shame.

0:18

Have you ever lost something that kept you up at

0:21

night? A job

0:23

or a car or

0:25

a relationship or a person and

0:28

you wondered is it my inadequacies

0:31

that has caused me

0:33

to have this loss?

0:43

Are you so busy crying over

0:45

what was lost that

0:49

you don't thank God for what

0:51

is left? What

0:54

you did made you hide

0:56

from God and

0:59

God is looking for you.

1:06

Even if you made a bad

1:08

choice, God said I'm still

1:11

looking for you. Come

1:14

before me naked and

1:18

I want to get rid of your shame.

1:27

Sometimes when

1:30

you're under attack, your

1:32

praise becomes a weapon. There

1:37

is power in your shout. There

1:39

is deliverance in your shout. There

1:42

is healing in your shout. Sometimes

1:45

you got to get right up in the devil's face and

1:48

go to dancing to let him know

1:50

that you took a lot of stuff but

1:52

you ain't took everything. I still

1:54

got my shout.

2:07

The walls have been torn down.

2:11

The city is naked. It

2:14

is vulnerable. It is uncovered.

2:17

It is unclothed. It is not protected. There

2:20

are no

2:20

guardrails. There are no barriers.

2:21

There are no fences. You

2:24

need walls in your life. You

2:34

need walls around your emotions. You

2:36

need walls around your marriage. You

2:38

need walls around your property.

2:41

You need walls around your brand. You

2:43

need walls around your business. Anytime

2:45

you cannot describe what you

2:48

are, then you can be anything. Walls

2:53

give you identity. And they

2:54

came back

2:57

to a city that was stripped

2:59

naked. The

3:04

walls were

3:06

torn down and the stones

3:09

were burned. And little

3:11

was left erected. And

3:14

as for the temple, it

3:16

was almost completely destroyed. But

3:21

they were free. Free

3:26

of the Babylonian rule and free

3:29

of the Babylonian food and free

3:31

of the Babylonian soul and free

3:33

of the Babylonian depository and

3:36

free from the connections

3:38

with their oppressors. At

3:40

least they were free. So

3:42

when they got back home and they

3:44

dug the foundations

3:47

of the temple, not the temple,

3:50

they just laid the foundations were laid

3:52

to reveal the second temple

3:55

out of what was left.

3:59

They were happy.

3:59

by limited resources. They couldn't

4:02

finish it.

4:03

And the foundation showed little signs

4:06

of ever becoming what had once

4:08

been. The foundation depicted a much

4:11

smaller version,

4:13

nothing like Solomon's Temple. The

4:16

foundation was enough to tell

4:18

you that this will not repeat

4:20

the glory I remember. And

4:26

without walls and without barriers

4:28

and without stability and with nothing

4:30

but the foundation, everything

4:32

that they held there

4:35

was naked.

4:39

And they came back home and

4:41

here they are and they called for the

4:43

sinners and the lemites and they called

4:45

for the harps and the balleurs and

4:48

the trumpets and the flutes and they started

4:50

praising God in

4:53

a naked place.

4:55

Strip

4:57

of its gold, strip of its

5:00

lamb and lay with strip of

5:02

its courtes, strip of its

5:04

power and its authority and its

5:06

wall and still they

5:09

danced. Still

5:13

they praised God, still

5:16

they glorified God, still

5:18

they glorified Him and lifted them

5:20

up in spite of what had

5:22

been stripped away from them. It

5:26

was the death of what the old

5:28

men remembered.

5:31

It was the end

5:35

of what was normal.

5:37

Sometimes when God

5:39

restores your life, you have

5:41

to be willing to give up what you

5:43

remember and you have to be

5:45

willing to change what

5:48

you call normal. Are

5:57

you

5:57

in love with what you've been

5:59

through? Are

6:04

you in love with God?

6:05

Are

6:09

you

6:09

in love with normalcy?

6:12

Some of us need normalcy. We

6:14

need everything to stay just like it is. Don't

6:17

move my couch, don't move my chair, don't

6:19

turn anything around, don't paint the room another

6:21

color.

6:22

I need it to stay just like

6:24

it is. And yet you serve

6:26

a moving God, a breathing

6:29

God, a changing God,

6:31

a scary God, and you

6:33

want to walk with God, but

6:35

you don't want to walk with change. How

6:38

can you walk with God and not walk

6:40

with change? Because God

6:43

is doing something new every

6:46

day, every hour, every

6:48

second, every moment, and you're

6:50

trying to make it. Make

6:52

it like it was. No,

6:55

it will not be like

6:58

it was. It

7:01

was the death of what they remembered. No

7:06

wonder the old man wept. Because

7:09

to see this pitiful

7:11

little foundation dug

7:15

was the same.

7:19

What I remember is God never

7:21

to return.

7:25

It is to say that my

7:27

normal has been taken

7:30

away from me. Like a baby

7:32

screaming for a bottle, they

7:34

cried out for what was.

7:39

And some of us

7:41

are crying out in our spirit

7:46

for what was. We're

7:49

staying up at night crying about

7:51

people who are God. Jobs

7:56

that are lost. Situations

8:03

that no longer exist and

8:05

we are tormented in

8:08

spite of what we have, we are tormented

8:12

because we have seen the death of what we

8:15

remember and the end

8:18

of what we had in mind.

8:19

Are

8:26

you so

8:26

baby crying over

8:28

what was lost that

8:32

you don't think God for what

8:34

is left?

8:34

Are

8:41

you living

8:41

in a fantasy of a memory that

8:44

is dissipated in front of your face

8:46

and is not that the thief

8:49

that has stolen your joy?

8:50

That

8:59

maybe we don't have to have everything

9:03

we had in mind

9:05

to

9:07

serve it. Maybe

9:10

everything that has to be perfect

9:13

to praise you cannot

9:17

praise God in

9:20

an imperfect marriage.

9:21

Can

9:25

I praise God with an imperfect

9:28

child? Can I praise God

9:30

with an imperfect situation? Can

9:33

I praise God with an imperfect

9:35

position?

9:36

Can I praise God with

9:38

things half done, incomplete,

9:41

foundation done, no walls? Can

9:44

I praise him naked? Sprint

9:51

to my stuff, Sprint to my

9:54

name, Sprint to this,

9:56

Sprint to that, and still

9:59

dance.

9:59

in the presence of God. Because

10:03

I may have lost my walls, and

10:05

I may have lost my labor,

10:08

and I may have lost the silver,

10:11

and I may have lost the gold,

10:13

but I have not lost my

10:16

God. To God

10:18

be the glory. Strip

10:21

down to nothing but joy.

10:22

Can you still praise

10:25

Him? Soon

10:35

or later, sometime or another, your

10:37

faith will face the test

10:41

of a naked praise.

10:42

Strip

10:48

up your fists, and strip up your fat,

10:51

and strip up your friends, and

10:53

strip them what you had in mind, and

10:55

strip

10:55

them what money you thought you would make, and

10:58

strip them all of the things from which

11:00

you've grown pride

11:01

and ego and understanding

11:03

of yourself. Can you

11:05

still praise God?

11:14

Let us talk a moment about the notion of nakedness.

11:18

The young man shouted at a temple that

11:20

was stripped.

11:22

Everything had been taken away.

11:24

They had been born in captivity, but

11:27

it was enough

11:29

to be free.

11:32

They weren't worried about buildings.

11:36

They rejoiced in the liberty of

11:38

being free. They

11:40

were whole in their

11:42

own land again,

11:44

welcome to worship their own

11:46

God freely again. With

11:49

only the foundation dug, and

11:52

no money to complete, even the

11:54

modest replica of what they had, still

11:57

they had to praise. I

12:00

wish, I wish, and it can us to

12:02

help us deal praise.

12:07

Sometimes when you're

12:08

under attack, your

12:11

praise becomes a weapon.

12:19

And you start defying the enemy by

12:21

saying, I still got

12:23

my praise.

12:24

I

12:26

lost my job, but I got my praise. I

12:30

lost my car, but I got my praise.

12:33

I lost my friends, but I got my praise.

12:36

Sometimes you got to get right up in the devil's face

12:39

and go to dancing, whether you feel

12:40

like dancing or not, to

12:43

let him know that you took a lot of stuff,

12:46

but you ain't took everything. I

12:48

still got my shout! And

12:52

all the people shouted!

12:58

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do

13:01

it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving

13:03

thanks to God the Father

13:04

through him. And as you

13:06

worship this morning from around the

13:08

world,

13:11

from around the world, people are soing

13:13

in different times. Do not know we have

13:15

people that get up early in the

13:17

morning in their time zone just

13:20

to be a part of our service. And for other people,

13:22

it's late in the evening, and

13:25

they want to be a part of our service, as

13:27

we worship from around the world.

13:30

Let's value what

13:32

God

13:32

has given us.

13:34

Let's value it. Let's not just

13:36

watch it. Let's value

13:38

it. You don't want to be married to somebody who just

13:41

watched you. You

13:44

don't want to be married to somebody who just watched you. You

13:46

don't want to be parented by somebody who just

13:48

watched and never values

13:50

you. It will affect the child if you

13:53

don't value the child. It will affect

13:55

the parent if the parent doesn't feel valued. This

13:57

is how you personally...

13:59

Nobody can do this for you.

14:02

Value the lower.

14:10

To be honest, I did not create

14:13

the title myself. It

14:15

is extracted out of the Word of God because

14:17

God created us naked. He

14:21

created Adam from the dust to the earth.

14:25

And Adam was born, unclothed,

14:30

and the Bible goes out of its way

14:33

to call him naked and

14:36

not ashamed.

14:37

Naked

14:40

and not ashamed. He

14:43

clothed the birds with feathers. He

14:46

clothed the fish with scales. He

14:49

clothed the lion with fur. But

14:52

Adam and Eve,

14:55

he created them naked

14:57

and

15:00

not ashamed.

15:03

So that they could walk

15:05

in His presence and

15:14

not ashamed.

15:17

Because your God is

15:20

naked. And

15:24

not ashamed.

15:28

Your God is a spirit.

15:32

They that worship Him, must

15:34

worship Him in spirit and

15:37

in truth. Oh,

15:40

you think I'm just talking about clothes?

15:43

Oh no, I'm

15:45

talking about the things you hide behind.

15:50

That you don't come before Him

15:52

with your real self.

15:54

With

15:56

your honest self. With

15:59

your truth.

15:59

with your troubled

16:02

self, with your confused self, with

16:05

your

16:05

troubled self, that you put on this image

16:09

and you camouflage, I'm talking about camouflage,

16:12

how you dress yourself up so that you

16:14

can fit in with people

16:19

until God doesn't even recognize

16:21

you.

16:22

Adam! Where

16:27

are thou?

16:30

I didn't create you like you're looking.

16:39

I didn't create you like you

16:41

have become.

16:43

I want a relationship

16:45

with you, not

16:47

your representative. No,

16:54

no, no, no, I don't want a relationship with your

16:56

degree.

16:59

No, no, I don't want a relationship

17:03

with your 401K plan. I

17:07

don't want a relationship with your gender.

17:14

I want a relationship with you.

17:17

Shripped

17:19

down

17:20

of all your rudiments. If

17:23

you want to talk to me, you've

17:25

got to come just as you

17:27

are. You

17:30

remember when Moses said,

17:34

who shall I say sent me? And

17:36

God said, I am that I

17:38

am. I

17:40

am that I am. What

17:43

you see is what you get. I

17:45

am that I am. There's no

17:47

shadow of turning, no changing

17:50

in me. I'm keeping it 100. Just

17:54

tell him I'm keeping it 100. Just

17:56

tell him I am that I am. Don't

17:59

try to put me in the wrong place.

17:59

and no box, don't try to explain

18:02

me, don't try to defer me. I

18:05

am God, you must sign

18:07

me, there is no other. I am

18:09

that I am, and I come just

18:12

like I am, and so the I

18:14

am that I am, came walking

18:16

down to the goal

18:17

of the garden, looking for

18:19

the I am that I am.

18:21

Wherever

18:27

I require

18:28

I need to find somebody to preach

18:30

to, the I am that I am

18:33

comes walking through the garden, looking

18:36

for the I am that I am, because

18:40

he had created Adam in

18:42

his likeness,

18:43

and

18:46

in his image,

18:48

and he did not create Adam

18:51

to hide behind stuff,

18:57

and the naked power of God

18:59

came walking through the garden, looking

19:02

for what he had created, and

19:04

what he had created was naked and not

19:06

ashamed, but what he found

19:10

was in camouflage. And

19:13

I'm wondering this morning, if

19:15

you're missing the blessing that God has

19:17

for you, because

19:20

of your camouflage. Now,

19:24

let's talk about camouflage for

19:26

a minute. Camouflage originally

19:29

was a term that was referred

19:32

to organisms, living organisms

19:35

like animals, using camouflage,

19:37

their chameleons, they changed colors

19:40

as a way of protecting themselves against

19:43

their adversaries. They

19:45

camouflaged themselves, so if they'd

19:47

lean up against a tree, they look

19:49

like bark. And

19:52

so it is to cause the

19:55

predator to pass by them, because

19:57

of camouflage later.

19:59

troops and soldiers started

20:01

wearing camouflage so that

20:03

they could blend into their environment

20:06

and not be detected and be able

20:09

to do warfare because they

20:11

wear camouflage. Camouflage

20:15

started out being born

20:17

out of fear in

20:20

organisms to

20:22

give me a safety

20:24

to hide the hive.

20:30

And when God came looking

20:33

for Adam,

20:35

Adam was wearing camouflage.

20:44

Watch this closely. The Bible says

20:46

that he made aprons

20:49

out of fig leaves and

20:52

that when he made aprons out of fig leaves

20:55

in Genesis 3, 7, and 8, he

20:57

made aprons out of fig leaves

21:01

and hid amongst the trees.

21:10

It wasn't just that he made aprons

21:13

out of fig leaves and

21:15

these were taken from fig trees.

21:18

He was trying to blend

21:21

in with

21:23

the trees

21:24

so

21:27

that when God came looking for

21:29

him, he would

21:31

not look like himself.

21:35

He would be one with them rather

21:38

than one with God. So

21:44

God says, Adam, why are you

21:46

out now? In

21:48

other words, what are you doing hanging out

21:51

with them trees?

21:56

Adam, create you to

22:00

be pressed like a tree.

22:04

You don't have to put on leaves

22:07

to please me.

22:11

And Adam says, I heard,

22:13

they heard the voice of the Lord walking

22:16

in the garden in the cool of the days. And

22:18

Adam and his wife hid themselves from

22:22

the presence of the Lord amongst

22:25

the trees of

22:27

the garden. And

22:30

I'm wondering, I'm glad you came to church and I'm glad your

22:32

Lord don't lie, but it's not going to do you

22:34

any good to be here if you hide

22:36

yourself amongst the trees

22:41

from the presence of the Lord. I'm

22:43

going deeper. Can I go deeper? Can I go deeper?

22:45

Can I go deeper? Let me go deeper.

22:48

Let me go deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper,

22:50

deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper. Camouflage

22:57

originally hid Adam

23:00

from the presence of

23:02

the Lord. I can't

23:04

tell you how many Sundays I've seen the glory fall

23:08

on some and not others because

23:13

others choose to hide themselves

23:17

from the presence of

23:19

the Lord. They

23:22

tell themselves, that's just my personality. That's

23:24

just how I am. I'm not worried like that.

23:27

They tell them, but the truth is

23:29

you're

23:30

hiding.

23:33

And

23:35

when you put on

23:38

something that ain't you, God

23:43

won't touch you because

23:49

he knows that's not

23:53

you.

23:53

I'm going

23:55

to say

23:57

it again. something

24:01

that's not you. God

24:05

won't touch you because

24:09

that's not

24:12

you. It may be

24:15

the you you put on for work because

24:18

you're hiding amongst the trees. It

24:25

may be the you that you put on to

24:28

fit in your community because you're

24:30

hiding amongst the trees.

24:34

It may be the you you became after

24:37

you went through your divorce but

24:39

you're hiding amongst

24:42

the trees and the reason

24:44

you're not getting everything you ought to get out

24:47

of church is because

24:49

what you did to fit in with

24:51

them made you hide

24:54

from God

24:55

and God

24:57

is looking

25:00

for you.

25:05

Even if the you is

25:08

wrong,

25:10

even if the you has

25:12

partaken of the forbidden fruit, God

25:16

said I'm still looking for you. Even

25:19

if you made a bad choice,

25:22

I'm still

25:23

looking for you. Even

25:25

if you're headed in the wrong direction,

25:27

I would rather have

25:29

you wrong and naked than

25:32

have you covered up with some pretense

25:35

that you covered yourself up

25:37

in to hide from me. And

25:39

the voice of the Lord

25:41

walked through the cool of the garden

25:43

and said Adam,

25:46

I'm looking for you. I'm looking

25:49

for you. I'm looking for you

25:51

with your broken self. I'm looking

25:54

for you with your depressed

25:56

self. I'm looking for you with your confused

25:59

self. I'll be looking

26:01

for you with your frustrated

26:03

self. I want

26:05

truth.

26:59

What is the thing that's missing?

27:02

Access the full power of God in your

27:04

life. Call or click today. Business

27:08

is the way in which we structure

27:11

our parameters to be effective.

27:15

You need to have relationships with partners,

27:17

investors and banks. We

27:21

don't walk into the room trying to figure

27:23

out how much we need them. We need

27:25

to do our homework to find out how much

27:27

they need us. I am so excited

27:29

to be here. I couldn't think of a better

27:32

place to be than in Good SAW. I

27:34

just have to be here. Become comfortable

27:36

with the tension of creativity. Anytime

27:39

you've got a boardroom full

27:40

of people who agree on everything, you have got the

27:42

weakest boards you ever saw in your life. You

27:45

want people around your table who

27:47

are passionate. When

27:50

I say bro, you say bro. Bro.

27:54

Bro. This is

27:56

your moment. This

27:58

is your hour.

27:59

I'm Jesus! If you don't take it

28:02

down, you're not going to take it!

28:07

Feel free to reach out to us on social media

28:10

and share your story of how God is impacting

28:12

your life. We look forward to seeing

28:14

you next time on the podcast.